Miscellaneous Genera I
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Ischyja manlia Cramer
Noctua manlia Cramer, [1776] 1779, Uitlandsche Kapellen, 1: 144.
Noctua squalida Fabricius, 1787, Mant. Ins., 2: 136.
Ischyja amboinensis Felder, 1861, Sber. Akad. Wiss. Wien 43(1): 42.
[
Ischyja manlia Cramer; Holloway, 1976: 34; see habitats note below].

Ischyja manlia
Ischyja manlia


Diagnosis. Males have the forewing shades of brown, without any significant purplish tint except on the longitudinal streak immediately posterior to the stigmata. The stigmata are paler than the ground, with dark edging, the ground being a medium brown; the reniform is rather irregular in shape and contains darker blotches. There is a dark brown longitudinal streak posterior to the purplish one, and this indents and sharpens the otherwise rather diffuse oblique boundary to the much paler brown marginal zone. The medial loop from the dorsum is darker brown but is only edged paler antemedially within the dark brown streak, if at all. On the underside there are blue postmedial fasciae, that on the forewing distinctly broader over its posterior half, and that on the hindwing thin and crenulate. Females are a similar colour but the forewing is more uniform basal to the paler, marginal zone.

Taxonomic note. The identity of this species is based on a male specimen from Tamil Nadu in S. India (slide 19131) that best matches the original illustration of manlia. In the S. Moluccas ssp. amboinensis is darker, more robust, with a much broader blue band on the hindwing.

Geographical range. Indian Subregion, Burma, Thailand (VK), China, Okinawa, Sundaland, Sulawesi; S. Moluccas (ssp. amboinensis). Nielsen et al. (1996) recorded manlia from Australia, and Fukushima (1947) recorded it from Palau.

Habitat preference. The species has not been taken in recent surveys but there are specimens without precise data from Beaufort, G. Marapok and G. Kinabalu in Sabah. The material attributed to manlia by Holloway (1976) consists of six other species as noted elsewhere in this section. Possible females have been taken singly in lowland forest at the Danum Valley Field Centre in Sabah and from the summit of G. Mulu at 2360m. During the Mulu survey field counts were made before the complexity of the situation and diversity of the genus were appreciated.

Biology. Various accounts of the biology of manlia cannot be attributed with certainty to the species as recognised here and are therefore presented in the generic account. However, Tominaga (2000c) illustrated a female from Okinawa that is probably manlia that was reared from a larva where late and final instars were also illustrated. The larva is dark rich brown, finely reticulated with paler squiggles. The final instar has a band of paler rufous brown encircling the area of A1, and the anal section is also more this colour. There are small tubercles dorsally on A2 and A3. The host plant recorded was Schima (Theaceae).

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